Pujara, Harmanpreet in Arjuna list
NEW DELHI: Cricketers Harmanpreet Kaur and Cheteshwar Pujara along with Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu were among 17 sportspersons who will be getting the prestigious Arjuna Awards this year.
The decision was arrived at a meeting of the Arjuna Awards committee which met here on Thursday.
Harmanpreet was rewarded for her performance at the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup. The experienced batter smashed an unbeaten 171 runs off just 115 balls to help India beat formidable Australia in the semi-finals.
RECORD HOLDER
That innings made Harmanpreet the record holder for the highest individual score for India at the women’s World Cup. It is also the the second-highest score by an Indian batter in women’s oneday internationals, behind Deepti Sharma’s 188.
Pujara, who is currently playing his 50th Test match in Sri Lanka, has been in good form witth the bat in recent times. The batsmen form Saurashtra remained unbeaten on 128 on Day One of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. In the previous Test at Galle, Pujara scored a century in the first innings.
Thangavelu on the other hand, won gold in the men’s high jump T-42 category at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The Tamil Nadu athlete is India’s first Paralympian gold medallist since the Athens Games in 2004. He was earlier awarded the Padma Shri on January 25 this year.